Published: Sunday, April 28, 2013 at 12:43 AM.

After a wait that lasted nearly seven hours Saturday, with the NFL Draft’s window of time closing, Aaron Mellette was picked by the Baltimore Ravens in the seventh and final round.

The Elon University receiver was the 238th overall selection in the draft. The Super Bowl champion Ravens took him 17 spots before the end.

Baltimore general manager Ozzie Newsome phoned Mellette with the news.

“I was so happy,” he said. “My dreams as a college athlete came true when they called my name.”

Mellette became Elon’s second NFL draftee in the last 21 years, joining Chad Nkang, also a seventh-round choice.

Nkang went five picks prior to the end of the 2007 draft. So, technically, Mellette’s selection marked Elon’s highest-drafted player since 1984, when Jimmy Smith was a fourth-round selection.

Mellette, who didn’t play organized football until his sophomore year of high school, who contemplated leaving Elon’s team as a true freshman in 2008, due to a dizzying transition to college schemes and terminology, spent Saturday in his hometown of Sanford, surrounded by family members, friends and former Phoenix teammates.

After a wait that lasted nearly seven hours Saturday, with the NFL Draft’s window of time closing, Aaron Mellette was picked by the Baltimore Ravens in the seventh and final round.

The Elon University receiver was the 238th overall selection in the draft. The Super Bowl champion Ravens took him 17 spots before the end.

Baltimore general manager Ozzie Newsome phoned Mellette with the news.

“I was so happy,” he said. “My dreams as a college athlete came true when they called my name.”

Mellette became Elon’s second NFL draftee in the last 21 years, joining Chad Nkang, also a seventh-round choice.

Nkang went five picks prior to the end of the 2007 draft. So, technically, Mellette’s selection marked Elon’s highest-drafted player since 1984, when Jimmy Smith was a fourth-round selection.

Mellette, who didn’t play organized football until his sophomore year of high school, who contemplated leaving Elon’s team as a true freshman in 2008, due to a dizzying transition to college schemes and terminology, spent Saturday in his hometown of Sanford, surrounded by family members, friends and former Phoenix teammates.

“We had been sitting here all day waiting to hear my name,” he said. “I was starting to talk to teams about free agency.”

The 6-foot-3, 217-pound Mellette, who hauled in 42 touchdown passes during his final three seasons at Elon, had been projected to land anywhere from the fourth to the sixth round. He was the last of four Southern Conference products drafted Saturday.

Appalachian State had punter Sam Martin go to the Detroit Lions in the fifth round and cornerback Demetrius McCray — who Mellette torched last season in Boone with 13 catches, 247 yards and three touchdowns — went to the Jacksonville Jaguars in the seventh round, 28 picks before Mellette.

Ravens director of college scouting Joe Hortiz mentioned Mellette’s productive performances against Vanderbilt in 2011 (11 catches, 180 yards, one touchdown) and Appalachian State (a combined 27 catches, 483 yards, four touchdowns the last two seasons) while speaking to reporters in Baltimore.

Baltimore has three installments of organized team activities May 21-23, May 29-31 and June 4-7. The Ravens will hold a mandatory minicamp June 11-13.

The draft became and exercise in endurance and patience for Mellette, who led the Football Championship Subdivision in catches (113) and receiving yards (1,639) in 2011 and ranked second nationally with 97 catches and 1,398 yards last season.

Saturday’s draft proceedings began at noon with the start of the fourth round. Some six hours and 50 minutes later, after players had been selected from such obscure places as Tarleton State, East Central Oklahoma, Chadron State, Harding and Missouri Western, the Ravens chose Mellette.

Finally.

“I get to open a new chapter of my life now,” Mellette said, “the final chapter in my football career.”